This invention relates to a package for holding fluid containers, and in particular to a package for holding fluid containers to protect the containers from damage during storage and shipment.
A variety of household and industrial fluids, such as paint thinner, are packaged in standard F-style containers. An F-style container has a generally rectangular prismatic shape with a spout and an inverted U-shaped strap handle projecting from the top. While these F-style containers are convenient for the end user to store and use the fluids contained in them, these containers are not sturdy enough, particularly with their projecting spout and handle, to be conveniently stored and shipped without further packaging.
There are a myriad of government regulations concerning the proper packing, storing, and shipping, of many of the types of chemicals that are put in F-style containers. These regulations impose rigorous drop and impact standards that must be met in order to prevent leakage of these chemicals. Present packages for shipping these chemicals are typically very complicated or expensive. Many of these packages rely upon absorbent packing or filling material to help prevent chemical leaks, virtually conceding that some leakage will occur. Moreover, if the chemical does contaminate the packing material, the contaminated packing material presents a disposal problem.
The present invention relates to a package for holding F-style containers and other similar types of containers, to protect the containers from damage during storage and shipment. The package of the present invention is of very simple and relatively inexpensive construction, with a minimum of parts, and does not rely on a packing or filling material to protect the containers. The package is sturdy and has been found to resist current impact and drop tests without leakage from the containers held inside the package.
Generally, the package of the present invention comprises a conventional box with a top, a bottom, and a sidewall therebetween. There is a bottom liner inside the box, adjacent the bottom. This bottom liner has a plurality of cutouts for receiving and retaining the bottoms of the containers. There is also a top liner inside the box, adjacent the top. This top liner comprises spaced apart upper and lower walls, the lower wall adapted to engage the tops of the containers held inside the package and having openings therein for receiving the spouts and handles of the containers held inside the package. These openings allow the spouts and handles of the containers to project into the space between the walls. There are preferably separate openings in the lower wall of the top liner for the spout and the handle of each container.
In the preferred embodiment, the bottom liner comprises an elongate blank, folded on itself to form an upper ply and a lower ply, and the cutouts are in the upper ply. Also in the preferred embodiment, the upper liner is formed from a single elongate blank. The upper liner preferably comprises a generally rectangular first panel, having at least one generally centrally located slot therein. First and second spacer webs extend from opposite sides of the first panel at first and second fold lines, respectively. Second and third panels extend from the first and second spacer webs, respectively, along third and fourth fold lines. The second and third panels extend toward each other, generally parallel to the first panel. Third and fourth spacer webs extend from the second and third panels toward the first panel along fifth and sixth fold lines, respectively. There are tabs on the third and fourth spacer webs, opposite the fifth and sixth fold lines, which fit into and engage the at least one slot in the first panel.
The bottoms of the containers fit into the cutouts in the bottom liner, and the top liner is placed over the containers with the lower wall in abutment with the tops of the containers, and the spouts and handles of the containers projecting though the lower wall, into the space between the upper and lower walls. In the preferred embodiment the upper liner is assembled over the containers as they sit in the bottom liner, so that the first panel of the top liner, forming the lower wall, can be fit over the tops of the containers, with the spouts and handles projecting through their respective openings. The second and third panels can then be folded over to form the upper wall of the liner and protect the spouts and handles.
Thus, the package of the present invention is of simple and inexpensive construction. It has a minimal number of parts, yet it securing holds and protects containers without the need for packing or filling material. The package protects the containers during impacts and drops, particularly the vulnerable spouts and handles. These and other features and advantages of the invention will be in part apparent, and in part pointed out hereinafter.